plugin creation

[Guest]

Hi!

I am new to acrobat plugins.  I am having set of tools developed in acrobat java script like auto bookmarking.  I wanted to convert this into plugins using c++.  I dont know where to start and how to start.  Can any one help me on this?  How to create?  Which platform is required to create plugin?  How to create .api file?

Ariv

[Test Screen Name]

With no integration key, the plugin will NOT get added to Reader. EVERYONE using the plug-in needs to pay for their OWN copy of Acrobat. EVERYONE. The developer and every user.

Yes, the SDK exists for only one purpose: to sell more copies of Acrobat.

[sheenam94333193]

ok i get it that integration key is required to add a plugin to reader...

but you said if we buy adobe then integration key will not be required...ryt??

so then how will the plugin get added to reader?

[Bernd Alheit]

You must enable the plugin for Reader. Then can the Reader use the plugin.

[sheenam94333193]

ok yea ofcouse Adobe Acrobat..then after buying it no integration key will be required.. then how will the plugin be added to adobe acrobat reader dc?

[Bernd Alheit]

Without the key you can't use the plugin in Reader!

When you buy Adobe Acrobat use the plugin in Adobe Acrobat.

[sheenam94333193]

so yu mean there is no difference if ultimately the plugin is added to either adobe acrobat reader or adobe acrobat???

[Bernd Alheit]

No, for the use in Reader you must enable the plugin with the key.

[sheenam94333193]

hey i have the license key for acrobat.

now when i placed the .api file created by building in visual studio in the adobe<acrobat dc<acrobat<plug-ins<DMSIntegration.api file and then opened adobe acrobat dc, this plugin is not showing there

[Karl Heinz Kremer]

When a plugin does not show up, there are a number of potential reasons:

- the plugin (which is a DLL) cannot get loaded because one or more of it’s dependencies are not there (other DLLs that are loaded automatically). Figure out what your plugin depends on and make sure that all resources are available.

- something in the handshake process goes wrong. Set breakpoints in the handshake functions and see how far Acrobat gets in loading your plugin.

- the plugin is actually loaded, but something goes wrong when adding UI elements. again, use the breakpoint feature in your debugger.

Start with the most simplistic plugin in the SDK, it’s much easier to debug something smaller.

[sheenam94333193]

it is not .dll actually. the plugin i placed is .api

[sheenam94333193]

i am using visual studio 2017 version. do i need to use a higher or lower version than that?

[Karl Heinz Kremer]

It is a DLL. Read the documentation! Just because it has a different file name does not mean that it’s not a DLL (that is as long as you are on Windows). The version of VS required is also in the documentation.

[Bernd Alheit]

Ensure that the Certified Plug-ins Only option is not selected in the Preferences of Adobe Acrobat.

[sheenam94333193]

hello... i have another question..

the acrobat sdk that i downloaded says that vs2013 has to be used.

but when i am building the plugin in the vs2013, i am getting an error saying that "build tools v141 has to be installed".

I installed them, restarted visual studio and built again.

This time i am getting error saying " v141 build tools do not support visual studio 2013", and that higher version of visual studio will have to be used like visual studio 2017

what should i do??

cz i am a beginner at developing plugins... and so i cannot change the visual studio version that is different from the one specified in the documentation of acrobat sdk

[Bernd Alheit]

For the Acrobat DC SDK use Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Service Pack 1.

[sheenam94333193]

ok then i will uninstall vs2013 and install vs2010

[sheenam94333193]

and anyway how did you know which vs version is required for which SDK???

please share the link for it so i can read more about it.

[Bernd Alheit]

Look at the documentation of the Acrobat DC SDK:

Acrobat DC SDK Documentation

[sheenam94333193]

once i build a plugin in visual studio, only a couple of libraries and .api file gets generated.

but the output of the plugin does not appear on the console.

so,how can i see the output the output of the plugin from visual studio??

do the plugins require some kind of emulators to see their output in visual studio??

[Bernd Alheit]

You can debug the plugin:

Acrobat DC SDK Documentation

[sheenam94333193]

what did you mean by "plugins are not command line tools"??

[Karl Heinz Kremer]

As explained before, a plugin is a DLL which gets loaded by Acrobat - and only Acrobat. So all the debugging needs to be done inside Acrobat.

[sheenam94333193]

i am not talking about debugging... i said building the plugin in visual studio and not debugging

[Bernd Alheit]

The plugin doesn't create a output in Visual Studio.

[sheenam94333193]

ok so suppose a normal java code written in eclipse IDE can be run there and we can see the output on the eclipse only..

similarly,when  plugins(which are written in c/c++ in visual studio) are run in visual studio, we should see the output there. but we don't.. why does that happen??

so, how can the output of a sample plugin be seen (to see what function does it perform)???